Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. At all. While I created chatacters (i.e. Saff and Andy) for purposes of this plot, I don't own 'em. SO THERE: pokes out tongue immaturely :

Rory: Wow. Long chapter. Nearly 3000 words again! But yeah. Thanks for the reviews!

Raidersrule76: ...A very bad insult. You say that again, you are a dead boy...But thank you. You'll see.

EMBER91: Yeah, that wasn't the best of chapters. It was okay, though.

Jaina 12: Hey, cool, new reviewer! Welcome on board! Starfire is kinda underplayed. Not as bad as Cyborg, though...but Robin and Raven are the worst. They get most of the showtime. But yeah. And I live sorta near Davis-Besse as well. The region, at least. (Frickin' Nazis are coming to town...)

MaskBehindTheShadows: Oooh, thanks! It was a decent chapter...not the best...but I'm getting better with bad guys. I'm sorry I was so late...I didn't finish this till last night.

If someone had looked up at the top of the CompCo building that stood in the center of Jump City from the base of the building, that lucky person would have seen three small figures standing at the edge. Maybe that person would wonder why there were people on top of the building, or perhaps they would have wondered what new villain had appeared today. Maybe, if the person had grown up in Jump City, the person would have wondered when the Teen Titans would arrive.

They wouldn't.

At least, that's what the tallest of the three figures thought.

Slade smiled at the city below him. "I love to watch the city," he told his apprentices. "Always moving, ever-flowing, cars and people and buses moving around without any idea of what may happen to them."

"What are we going to do? What do we have to take?" Claw asked quietly.

He laughed softly. "First things first, Claw. I'm going to tell you what you have to lose."

On his other side, the girl shivered. Starfire was not going to enjoy this.

The man pulled out a thin, flat video screen. He held it for his two students to see.

"Yeah, so what?" Claw started to say. But then, the screen flickered to life.

It showed a brightly-lit room with white walls. It was huge, almost cavernous, but its size was now what was intended to draw the eye. In the center of this chamber was a chair, and on that chair sat one green Titan. Beast Boy was bound to the chair, a gag in his mouth, and he was looking about wildly, looking for something, anything that would help him get out.

Now, this may not have been merely a vaguely disturbing image, except that the entire room was lined with laser guns that just so happened to be aimed at him.

"If you don't do as I tell you," said Slade slowly, "Your little friend here is going to die."

For the first time, Starfire spoke. "How did you take him?" she demanded.

"A master doesn't reveal his tricks," Slade replied smoothly. "Now, what I want you two to do is to lure the remaining Titans out to us. I have – a little surprise for them."

Starfire bristled. "I will not hurt my friends," she hissed. "Nor shall I help you do it!"

He laughed once more. "No worries, Starfire, I'm not going to hurt them. Just give them a little – shock." From his belt, Slade pulled out something similar to a stun gun. He pointed it at himself and clicked the trigger. A tiny spark of electricity shot out at him. "You see? Of course, the setting will be a little higher, but I don't want them dead, my dear. I only want them out of the way."

Still not trusting him, Starfire looked away.

"Now, start doing – whatever it is petty criminals do," Slade said, flapping one hand. "Just to grab their attention."

Robin paced the main room, rubbing his head. For once, he wasn't sure what he was doing. "Guys," he said desperately, "Where is Starfire?"

Raven opened her eyes. "I can't find her presence anywhere near the Tower," she informed them. Saffire drew her legs up to her chest. "The only way we're gonna be able to find Star is to actually see her. Slade probably crushed her communicator straight off."

Cyborg nodded. "Our only chance is that Slade makes her commit a crime, like he did with you, man."

Thunk.

"She is not like that," Darkfire growled from his spot by the window. "The sister I knew would not do something so stupid!"

"She may not have a choice," Robin shot back at him. "When Slade made me be his apprentice, the lives of my friends were at stake! This isn't just a game we play by dressing up in pretty costumes. This is our job, and it requires sacrifice!"

Darkfire turned to him, eyes blazing. "You think I do not understand sacrifice?" He stalked towards Robin. "I have made sacrifices since I let my father sell my sisters into slavery!"

Raven flew between the two angry boys. "Fighting between us will solve nothing," she said. "The only way we can get Starfire back is to work together."

Stubbornly, they both turned away. She hung her head, exasperated. "Cyborg, a plan -?"

"Got it," he said, pulling up the computer screen. "I've run diagnostic tests on everyone, just to be sure he didn't get us with nanobots again." Cyborg tapped some keys. "Everyone's just fine. I think. Saffire and Darkfire's blood didn't exactly look like Starfire's."

Darkfire looked more than a tad guilty.

"But besides genetic crap, everyone looks perfectly healthy," he continued. "But that's not what we need to worry about. From now on, everyone goes in pairs. We're calling in the Calvary on this one, guys. Terra and Sierra from their post in the Justice League Space Station, Bee and the crew from Titans East, Hot Spot, Wildebeest, every Titan in the world is coming to the Tower."

Saffire piped up. "There are, then, more s-Titan? Are they from where?"

"All over," Raven said. "Anyone worthy of being a hero is a Titan."

Robin nodded. "Together, we can't lose," he said with a grimly satisfied smile.

Cyborg twisted around. "Both Star and Beast Boy are missing," he said. "Slade may have taken BB as bait for Starfire."

Nodding, Raven floated a few feet into the air, looking to the horizon. "Hey, guys," she said. "I think the Calvary has arrived."

The alarm started to ring. Robin grimaced. "And just in time," he said. "I think Slade is dropping his bait."

"This is not right," Starfire mumbled. She and Andy were putting on a good show of making the bank clerk hand over some money.

He shook his head. "It isn't our choice," he reminded her.

"They are not coming," she replied impatiently. She needed her friends to get her out of this mess as soon as possible.

Andy rolled his eyes. "Shut up, will you?" he said.

Finally, Starfire did something she never would have done ordinarily. She tapped the teller on the shoulder. "I am very sorry," she said, "But this is important." She conked her over the head with one fist and hit the alarm button.

"What did you do that for!" Andy yelled as yellow and green strobe lights began flashing. Black and white police cars were pulling up to the bank with a screech.

The two started to run. Starfire flew up, grabbing Andy's arm with one hand. Irked, he morphed once more into a Siberian tiger. Since she was strong enough to pick up Beast Boy in elephant form, it didn't really do much.

Something black and yellow whizzed at her from one side. Starfire dodged it by millimeters.

"Don't move, Starfire," Robin yelled from the building below.

Andy – Claw – wriggled from the girl's grasp and dropped to the same rooftop as the Titans' pissed-off leader. He growled menacingly, then changed back into a human. "Stay away," he hissed, pulling out several throwing stars.

"I wouldn't do that, man," said a voice from behind him. When Claw turned, Cyborg had his sonic cannon pointed directly at him.

In a flash, Starfire swooped down and grabbed the half-metal teen, tossing him unceremoniously a few feet from his original spot. "Do not hurt him," she told her friend warningly.

Meanwhile, Robin was yelling into his communicator. "Calling all Titans! Sector 47-A! I repeat: 47-A!"

Twisting back to face Robin, Starfire zoomed over, but it was too late. A white-edged black shape materialized between the pair. "Don't get any closer," Raven said quietly, cape rippling slightly.

Starfire frowned, worried. "Friend Raven, I do not wish to hurt you – "

She was cut off by another voice behind her. "Good, 'cause we don't feel like nailing you, either." Bumble Bee pressed a stinger against Star's back.

The girl trembled. This was not going the way Slade had wanted. "I will not hurt you," she said.

Below them, Claw wrestled with Cyborg, Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad as the four boys tried to clap handcuffs on him. "Get off me!" he yelled, then began spurting obscenities.

A voice sounded in Starfire's ear from the transmitter Slade had given her. "Help him," hissed the voice, "Or the consequences will be…dire."

Shivering, Starfire thought for one calculating moment, then turned her head to Bumble Bee. "I am sorry," she said, then slammed one fist into the golden stingers. They bent, useless. She flew towards Raven, disabling her friend with a single zap, and went on to Andy's aide.

"Let him go," she told the four boys warningly.

From one side, she was blasted with a cyclone of water. She looked down to find Aqualad and Mas y Menos watching her. "I'm sorry, Starfire," Aqualad called, "We can't let you ravage the city!"

"What's taking you so long?" Slade asked once more.

Starfire shook her head and aimed a concentrated starbolt straight at Mas y Menos. They split, and she zapped Aqualad with an edge.

A lime-colored tear dripped down her face, but she knew what she had to do. Starfire flew to where her four ex-teammates – her four friends – were standing, and did what she thought she'd never do.

She hit Robin.

With the length of her arm, she struck both Robin and Speedy, knocking them both out, then grabbed Claw. He morphed into a snow leopard and the pair took to the sky.

"Damn!"

Cyborg rammed his fist into the ground. Starfire really was a good fighter; she had taken out three Titans and partially disabled a fourth. He rubbed his head.

Thunder and Lightning ran up. "Did we miss anything?" Lightning panted.

"YES!" Cyborg exploded. "We just lost a battle against TWO!"

Bumble Bee rested a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Cy," she said, "It isn't their fault. The same way it's not Hotspot or Wildebeest's fault." The other two Titans were taking care of Robin and Speedy with the help of the dilatory Terra and Sierra. "We just – need a better plan."

He glared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Yeah. I know."

"Hey, Cy!" called Hotspot, "There's something wrong!"

The second-in-command moved to his side. "Yeah?"

"The – something isn't right. His readings, they've gone all funky…" Hotspot frowned, staring at the device in his hand. "They're just out of proportion! There isn't any sort of intense radioactivity around here, so I don't know what it could be."

Cyborg frowned. "Well, either Robin's breathing at a rate of seventy-six thousand breaths per minute, or there's something up."

A noise called the Titans' attention to the ground. Something was moving under their feet.

And that something looked like a giant net.

"Good-night, Titans," Slade chuckled. He pressed the button on his remote. Such a wondrous device. He could send shock waves through cables with a single tap.
"Uuuuuuuuhm, fire-Dark," Saffire said as she floated by her cousin on a cerulean bubble. "Is-where the Ey-foorti-sevin sektre?"

He frowned, still flying along Jump City's beaches. "Where did you hear that?" he asked her in English.

"I hear it from the great-distance-sound," she told him. "Of the voice of the Robin-Titan."

Darkfire blinked at his cousin. He forgot how good her hearing was. "I do not know," he said, "But it is probably in the middle of the city." He turned towards the town.

She nodded, and then asked, "Darkfire?"

Sighing, he replied, "Yes, Korian?"

"Does what 'heeeeylp' mean?"

"Heylp?" He didn't know any English words 'heylp', but he knew a glorgian 'heylp'. Then it dawned on him. "You mean 'help'?" She nodded, and Darkfire laughed. "Oh, that is easy," he said. "It is the same as 'kiyah' in your language."

(A/n: Wait for it…)

"OH, KOMA KORI-NYRITH!"

Starfire landed with a thump behind Slade. "What have you done?" she cried desperately. "Are my friends alive?"

"Of course, my dear," he said. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Owwwww!"

"Hey!"

"Aqualad, get your damn foot outta my face! You smell like rotten FISH!"

"Bumblebeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, that huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur-TAH!"

"EEEEEEEIIIIIP! WHAT THE HELL! SPEEDY, GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Robin sighed. "Will you guys shut up," he muttered, face squashed into the bottom of the net. Unfortunately, Robin and Speedy had regained conciousness once they had been caught in the net. Especially unfortnate for Sierra, who had been bending over his face when they were caught. Something told Robin that Speedy may not walk away with all four limbs attached to his body.

"Robin's right," said Bumble Bee, whose face was pressed against Cyborg's arm. "We need to calm down."

Aqualad snorted. "This coming from the girl who BIT my FOOT?"

"The Bumble Bee has done the chomping on your lower digitary organ?"

Surprised, the Titans turned to face the voice. Darkfire was floating near them, and Saffire sat on a blue sphere, gazing with curious interest at Aqualad.

"Uh, sure," he said.

She giggled.

"I'm glad to see you," Robin said. "Can you get us out of here?"

Darkfire plucked at the strands. "Hmm. I do not think so," he said. "It is made of Diffusium, which cannot be pulled apart. The only thing that would break it is something made of the material you call 'ivory' on Earth."

Cyborg moaned. "The ONE TIME we need BB…"

He shrugged. "But where is my sister?"

"Gone," Terra grumbled. "At least ten minutes ago. Slade's got her."

Sierra piped up. "His hideout is in the northern end of Jump City. Where Terra was adamantined. Go there."

Saffire grinned, and Darkfire took off to the sky. "Thank you."

"You said he'd be safe!"

Starfire hid in the shadows of the main room of Slade's lair. Andy had yanked off his helmet-thing and gone to see Beast Boy, except that he couldn't. Beast Boy was now suspended over a pit of boiling oil, and gradually being lowered in.

The sinister man shrugged. "My appprentices disappointed me," he said. "They have to be punished."

His cat eyes narrowed. "Fine," Andy snapped. "I won't do this any longer. I want my family to be safe. I quit." He tried to tug off the crest, but he received a nasty shock.

Slade smiled. "It won't work," he said. "It worked on my last apprentice, and it will work on you, too. That's built into your neurological system. It won't come off – until you die." His eyes narrowed. "And my apprentices don't quit."

Andy flew across the room from the force of his blow. There was a nasty crack as he hit the wall. "You – you son of a – " Slade hit him again. This time, he landed on the floor.

"Stop!" Starfire flew from the shadows, blasting a starbolt at Andy's tormentor. He dodged it and moved back as the ground melted beneath him. She knelt and picked Andy up like a child.

He looked up at her weakly. "Th-thanks," he said, "But I'm okay." He transformed into a huge tiger again and lumbered towards Slade.

The man laughed. "You can't do anything to me," he said. "That suit controls you, too…"

Suddenly, Andy began to tremble. Starfire's eyes widened. "Andy, no!" she yelled. "You must fight it!"

The tiger's hunched form turned back into a skinny teenage boy. "I – I can't – " He lashed out at her, missing by mere centimeters.

She flew up, infuriated. "SLADE!"

One wall of the cave exploded, piles of dust billowing towards the three.

"Kori? Kori!" Darkfire and Saffire appeared in the hole left by their starbolts.

She stared. "How did you – " Starfire was cut off by a blow to her ribs, leaving her choking and gasping for air.

Slade looked down at her triumphantly. "Tsk, tsk, apprentices should always pay attention to their teacher…" He kicked her again.

What he did not expect was the double blow to his head. Andy had launched a rock at him from one side, and Darkfire had shot him with a red 'rock' of star-clumps from the other. He fell to his knees, then collapsed.

"Starfire!" Darkfire yelled, flying to her. Andy knelt by her as well.

She looked up at the three people over her. "I – am all right," she said finally.

Andy smiled. "Good."

Saffire moved over to examine Slade and kicked him forcefully through the chest. Her foot busted a hole through his chest, revealing a spray of wires. She jumped back, very freaked out.

"A robot," Starfire whispered. "That is how he did it."

Shaking, Andy stammered, "So – he's still alive?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Starfire said, sitting up. "But we must save Beast Boy before we can worry about Slade."

Rory: Phewww. That's over. But the story isn't. Tune in Thursday for the epilogue of Thicker Than Water.

Also, updates are coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays now. And I suggest being ready to read in two days...